Neighbors on Chestnut Hill:
The Martin Brothers and the Franklin Family
Maps: The Martins and the Franklins in the 1870s and the 1880s:
Above: 1875 Map: The Martin brothers lived next door to former Pennsylvania Attorney-General Thomas Franklin and wife Serena Franklin . Atlas by Everts and Stewart. (Blue and green colors added) Image: F. and M. College.
Above: 1886 Map: The Martin brothers and the three Franklin brothers and the Franklin sister. These Franklins were the adult children of Thomas and Serena Franklin who lived here previously. Atlas by Baist and Smith. (Blue and green colors added.) Image: F. and M. College.
The Parents: Pennsylvania Attorney-General Thomas Emlen Franklin
and Wife Serena Angelica (Mayer) Franklin:
Above: Husband and wife: Serena Franklin’s 1838 portrait by Jacob Eichholtz. (Phillips Museum of Art, F. and M. College.) Attorney-General Thomas Franklin. (1883 History of Lancaster County, Ellis and Evans.)
The Martins and the Franklins were two of the most prominent families of Chesnut Hill, Lancaster. These two families were next-door neighbors in the late 1800s. Siblings in the Franklin family lived beside each other at this high-profile intersection of Chestnut and Charlotte Streets. The Martin brothers also built houses next door to each other here during this era.
The Franklin Brothers and Sisters at Chestnut and Charlotte Streets
in the 1880s:
The Parents: Thomas Emlen Franklin (1810 – 1884) Judge and attorney-general of Pennsylvania. Married to Serena Angelica Mayer (1816 – 1877). Judge Franklin’s father had also been a judge and attorney-general of Pennsylvania. At that time the family lived in Philadelphia.
Judge Franklin and wife Serena Franklin built a home here on Charlotte and Chesnut in the 1870s. After Judge Franklin, this house became the home of one of their sons, Attorney George Mayer Franklin and family.
The Franklins came from a Philadelphia Quaker family, and they became Episcopalians. The Martins came from a Lancaster County Mennonite family, and they became Lutherans.
A Franklin brother: Attorney George Mayer Franklin (1839 – 1899). Married to Sarah Myer Steinman (1839 – 1928). Mrs. Franklin was a daughter of George M. Steinman, owner of the Steinman hardware company. Today the Steinman hardware building is home to the Pressroom Restaurant. Mr. Franklin became a partner in the Steinman hardware company. The two other Franklin brothers here on Chestnut Hill were also associated with that hardware business.
Mr. Franklin also served as a Lancaster select councilman, and was a director of the Farmers National Bank.
Another Franklin brother: District Attorney Walter Mayer Franklin (1851 –1913). Married to Sarah Latimer Small (1860 - 1920). Mr. Franklin also was associated with Steinman Hardware Company, as were his two brothers who were his neighbors here on Chestnut Hill. He also was a director of Lancaster General Hospital and was a trustee of Franklin and Marshall College.
Above: The former home of Henry S. Franklin and wife Laura (Sprecher) Franklin. It was built ca. 1885. Mr. Franklin was manager of the Steinman Hardware Company. His siblings had homes one block away, east of the Martin brothers’ homes.
Another Franklin brother: Henry Smith Franklin (1849 –1935). Married to Laura Sprecher (1860 -1903). Mr. Franklin was general manager of the Steinman Hardware Company. He served as a vestryman of St. James Episcopal Church, and was a trustee of Woodward Cemetery.
Two Franklin sisters: Annette Franklin (1854 - 1882) and Blanche Franklin (1858 - 1924). Both married the same attorney, one after the other. They lived at 325 West Chestnut St. These two Franklin sisters married Attorney John Watts Baer Bausman (1855 - 1940) and lived here as neighbors to their three Franklin brothers.
The first Franklin sister to marry Mr. Bausman was Annette Franklin. They married in 1880, and built their residence here at this location in 1881. But Annette died two years after that marriage.
Mr. Bausman then married Annette’s younger sister, Blanche Franklin, ten years later in 1892. Blanche Bausman was president of Lancaster’s Visiting Nurses Association. Mr. Bausman was president of Farmers National Bank and was a trustee of F. and M. College. He followed his father in both those positions. And he also had been associated with the Steinman Hardware Company, along with his in-law neighbors, the Franklin brothers.
1875 newspaper describes the gardens and grounds
of former PA Attorney-General Thomas Franklin and Serena Franklin
and their neighbors Barton B. Martin and Catharine Martin:
Image: LNP Newspaper Archive
1905: Girls’ High School replaced the Franklin home:
Above: Today the Residences at Stevens School is located on the site of the home of Attorney-General Thomas Franklin and wife Serena Franklin on Chestnut Hill. This building was built in 1905 as a girls’ high school. The architect was C. Emlen Urban.
Lancaster newspaper describes the high school replacing the Franklin home:
Image: LNP Newspaper Archive